The Castle the King Hardly Lived In

High on a rocky ridge in the Bavarian Alps stands a white castle that looks like a dream. It was built by a king named Ludwig the Second, who loved music, stories, and beautiful things more than he loved ruling. He wanted a castle from a fairy tale, so he set it on a steep crag above the valley, with towers reaching into the mountain mist.

Visoko na stjenovitom grebenu u bavarskim Alpama uzdiže se bijeli dvorac koji izgleda poput sna. Izgradio ga je kralj po imenu Ludwig Drugi, koji je glazbu, priče i lijepe stvari volio više nego vladanje. Želio je dvorac iz bajke, pa ga je postavio na strmu liticu iznad doline, s kulama koje dosežu u planinsku maglu.

Ludwig spent a fortune on his castle. Skilled workers carved the rooms and painted the walls with scenes from old legends. But the king lived inside for only about eleven nights before he died, and the castle was never finished. Many rooms stayed bare and silent, waiting for a life that never came to fill them.

Ludwig je na svoj dvorac potrošio bogatstvo. Vješti majstori klesali su sobe i oslikavali zidove prizorima iz starih legendi. No kralj je u njemu živio samo oko jedanaest noći prije nego što je umro, a dvorac nikada nije dovršen. Mnoge sobe ostale su prazne i tihe, čekajući život koji ih nikada nije ispunio.

Today the story has a strange happy ending. The castle that one lonely king barely used has become one of the most visited castles on earth. Crowds of travellers climb the path each day and look up at its towers. It even inspired the famous castles you see in theme parks, so a private dream now lives in millions of photographs.

Danas priča ima čudan sretan završetak. Dvorac koji je jedan usamljeni kralj jedva koristio postao je jedan od najposjećenijih dvoraca na svijetu. Gomile putnika svakog dana se penju stazom i gledaju prema njegovim kulama. Čak je nadahnuo poznate dvorce koje viđaš u tematskim parkovima, pa jedan privatan san sada živi u milijunima fotografija.